Which German state first made International Women’s Day a public holiday? Berlin was the first.
Berlin’s state parliament approved the change in January 2019, and March 8 became a statutory public holiday there that year. Berlin is both a city and one of Germany’s 16 federal states, so it can establish holidays through state legislation rather than waiting for a nationwide law.
The decision was notable because International Women’s Day had long been widely observed in Germany but was not generally a day off across the country. The holiday’s socialist and labor-movement associations also made its status politically distinctive, especially given Germany’s divided history before reunification.
“Germany” is therefore not the best answer if the question asks which state acted first. Berlin led the change; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern followed in 2023. Hamburg, Saxony, and Bavaria were not the first German states to grant the day statutory-holiday status.